death penalty news August 18, 2005
NEW JERSEY: New rules set by court for death penalty case State required to prove accused child killer is not mentally retarded A New Jersey appeals court on Wednesday said Morris County prosecutors must prove to a jury that accused child-killer Porfirio Jimenez is not mentally retarded before they can ask jurors to impose a death sentence. Prosecutor Michael Rubbinaccio promptly announced that he will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, even though it will cause further delay in scheduling the trial in the May 2001 murder of 10-year-old Walter Contreras Valenzuela in Morristown. The prosecutor believes that the ruling puts an unreasonable burden on the state and is sure to affect all future capital punishment cases in the state where mental retardation is raised as an issue. Rubbinaccio said that 26 other states have addressed the issue since a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ban on executing mentally retarded people found guilty of murder. The other states all call for the accused to prove to jurors that he or she is mentally retarded and have reached that point through statute or by court decision. Unlike the other states, New Jersey's appellate decision puts the burden on the state to disprove mental retardation, the prosecutor said. The federal top court's ruling left it up to states to develop guidelines on how trial courts should determine whether accused killers are retarded, if intellectual capacity is questioned in a defendant. The New Jersey Legislature has not enacted any guidelines, so Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morristown --who is presiding over the Jimenez case -- in March proposed procedures to be used to determine Jimenez's mental abilities. Neither side liked Ahto's proposal, so they turned to the appellate division, whose decision on Wednesday highlighted the need for extreme caution to avoid "the infliction of so irrevocable a penalty upon one whose culpability is lessened by mental infirmity." A defense expert has opined that Jimenez, with an IQ of 68, is mentally retarded and not eligible for a death penalty prosecution for the alleged murder. A state expert calculated an IQ of 69 but found that Jimenez is not mentally retarded. The Wednesday ruling is a clear victory for lawyers for the 40-year-old Honduras-born landscaper. It means that, if the prosecutor's office proves to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Jimenez deliberately murdered Valenzuela and tried to sexually assault him, prosecutors then must prove to the same jury and beyond a reasonable doubt that Jimenez is not retarded. The jury must be unanimous in a finding of non-retardation before the state can proceed to the death penalty phase. This phase has not been changed: For a death sentence to be imposed, jurors must unanimously agree that aggravating factors cited by the state outweigh any mitigating factors that the defense may cite to spare Jimenez's life. Tom Rosenthal, spokesman for the state Office of the Public Defender, which is overseeing the Jimenez case, said the decision properly puts the burden on the state and allows a defendant a constitutional right to a trial by jury on the issue of mental retardation, rather than letting a judge make the call on mental capacity. The prosecutor's office this spring asked the state Supreme Court to establish guidelines on how to determine mental capacity, but the high court declined. But if Jimenez eventually is convicted of murder and sentenced to death, the appellate division would be automatically bypassed and the state Supreme Court would review the proceedings. Jimenez, who left a common-law wife and children in Honduras and was living in Morristown with his brother's family, allegedly lured Valenzuela to a secluded area off Cory Road near the Whippany River and sexually assaulted him. In a confession that has been ruled admissible for use at trial, Jimenez said he stabbed and beat the child with a garden tool so the boy could not tell anyone about their encounter. Along with dozens of other people in Morristown, Jimenez voluntarily let police take a swabbing from his cheek for use in DNA testing. He was charged with the boy's murder in June 2001 after his DNA matched semen found on the child's underpants, according to prosecutors. (source: dailyrecord.com) ILLINOIS: Judge limits Ryan's remarks on death penalty Former Gov. George Ryan can tell jurors at his upcoming corruption trial that he worked on the death penalty issue, but he can't put his historic decision to clear Death Row in marquee lights to show what a man of character he is, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. In a setback to Ryan's defense, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer significantly limited how Ryan can refer to his death penalty work during his trial next month. "The court sees no meaningful relationship between Ryan's decisions regarding the death penalty and the offense conduct with which he is charged here," the judge wrote. "Ryan's legitimate official acts, such as commuting death sentences, are not alleged to be part of the scheme or conspiracy to commit fraud." Ryan can use his death penalty work only to show he was tied up with that issue and other tasks as governor and not engaged in the alleged corruption detailed in the indictment. No plea discussions planned Ryan is charged with engaging in systemic corruption while he was governor and secretary of state to help his friends, who in turn helped Ryan and his family. One Ryan friend, Republican businessman Larry Warner, is on trial with him. Despite the judge's ruling on the death penalty issue and on other matters against Ryan, his attorney, Dan Webb, said Thursday that Ryan is going to trial and won't engage in plea discussions. "There have been absolutely no plea negotiations," Webb said. "Zero. And there won't be. I don't know how it can be any clearer than that." The judge also suggested she would have little tolerance for any arguments by Ryan's defense team that Ryan's actions were nothing more than politics as usual and nothing illegal. (source: Chicago Sun-Times)
